Kianah Jay

Biography
Kianah Jay is a painter, musician, rapper, aerialist, actress, dancer, and choreographer. She has also published political writing in a number of publications. Raised in Tesuque, New Mexico, Jay’s regard for the desert has informed her work which ranges from collaborative performances, large-scale paintings, short films, to social installations.

Born to an Indigenous mother and Black father, she finds herself at the intersection of black, brown, feminine, pop, and global art. Her paintings are powerfully explosive and depict the boundless feminine form in spaces of abundance. Originally a dancer, she blends her intuitive body knowledge with explosive color palettes, indigenous sounds, and historical context to create visual and auditory work.

Jay is better known as TwoLips, her musical pseudonym. TwoLips has performed on stages internationally. Her distinct aesthetic and style can be seen in music videos, most notably for G-Eazy, Logic, and Marshmallow. Kianah is a member of the international Palace Collective and a co-founder of the FrienZone collective. She currently lives and works in LA.

I define my practice as multi-disciplinary until a better term emerges. Driven to physically, emotionally, and mentally “transcend”, I examine culture and aim to embody that which begs to travel from the collective psyche into the measurable realm. A cocktail of slave and indigenous blood runs through my veins. And process. Deeply committed to a range of materials, collaborators, and experiences, my work celebrates togetherness, blackness, brownness, and primal femininity. Informed by decolonial mindset, I create in direct opposition to uniformity, purity, exploitation, rigidity, and domination. The physical body is the canvass through which narratives are lived and felt. My fixation on the feminine form in motion extends to my visual work as I honor and take solace in femme and non-binary subjects. I am called to be a channel for my own vulnerability. To imagine that which was, would be, or could be. The pendulum insists I ask for more. I wish to tip-toe the line between the mystic and the material worlds. In short, I am here to live deeply in my authenticity and to support you living deeply in yours.
– Kianah Jay

Education
2015
B.A., Sociology, Dance, Speech and Hearing, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM

Exhibitions
2020
Psychowave (solo), High Tide Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
CHARCOAL: Strokes of Vitality, Richard Levy Gallery, Albuquerque, NM

2019
Underwater Waves, Amorphous, Los Angeles, CA

2018
Ohmies Choice, The Echo, Los Angeles, CA

Performance
2020
Burque Noir II Black Artist Showcase, Albuquerque Museum, Albuquerque, NM

Press
2020
Sahar Nicolette, TwoLips EP PSYCHOWAVE: Fusing Spirit with Sound, Subvrt Magazine, December 5
Maria Manuela, Five Things to do this Weekend, New Mexico Magazine, November 6

2018
TwoLips “Slow Sex” is a Playful Reclamation of Female Pleasure,  Subvrt Magazine,  November 17
TwoLips Keeps it Funky,  Adobe House, November
Mothership is the inclusive festival we need right now, NYLON,  September
Meet TwoLips: the Radical Visionary Leading a New Wave of Activists, Subvrt Magazine, September 7
Meet Kianah Jay of TwoLips in Downtown, Voyage LA, June 5

Collectives
FrienZone Connective, Founding Member
Palace International Artist Collective

Press Release
2020 CHARCOAL: Strokes of Vitality at Richard Levy Gallery